


the universe planned for us

by parahelios



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22401229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parahelios/pseuds/parahelios
Summary: After the dust settles, Roxas finds out that:a) hestillhasn't learned all there is to know about tied fates and unbreakable connections, andb) it's always Sora, because of course it is, andc) he's actually very okay with that.(KH3-compliant, but make it soulmates whose first words to each other are written on their bodies. Pure fluff.)
Relationships: Roxas/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 157





	the universe planned for us

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote a very messy version of this fic last year, played re:mind this week, and then could not rest until i got all of my gay feelings out in some way.
> 
> dedicated to the soroku discord, who originally inspired me for this au!
> 
> title is from beau taplin's "in tune"

The first time Roxas learns about soulmates, it's thanks to Naminé.

It's just the two of them and Xion on the clock tower today, a little later than usual following a health check-in at the lab in Radiant Garden. Ansem the Wise and Ienzo had insisted on regular appointments in order to monitor their replica bodies as they continued to adjust and grow with their hearts. None of them were particularly fond of being hooked up to machines and examined, but it was difficult to argue that it _was_ in their collective best interest to maintain the forms they had all struggled so much to hold on to in the first place.

In any case, it does give the three an excuse to spend time together, and having the ability and freedom to spend time with his friends is something Roxas will never take for granted again.

"Roxas," says Naminé to get his attention, a short moment after they'd settled in with their ice cream. "I've been meaning to ask if you've had a chance to check for your mark yet."

"My what?" says Roxas, furrowing his brow.

"His what?" says Xion from Roxas's other side, also looking perplexed.

"Oh," says Naminé, eyes widening in surprise for a brief moment, before her expression turns apologetic. "I suppose... no one has really told either of you about it before, have they?"

Roxas and Xion exchange a look and shrug helplessly, which is all the answer Naminé needs.

"Almost everyone in this world has someone they're meant to share their life with," she begins, directing her gaze out at the horizon, voice softening as though she's about to tell a fairy tale, "and the way they're meant to find that person is with the help of a unique identifier on their body."

"What does it look like?" Xion asks.

"Usually, it's the first words you've shared with one another, or the first words that meant something significant to you. The examples I've seen in books have all looked a little different – they're in all sorts of sizes and colours and places on the body, and even in different languages." Naminé pauses to glance down at her lap, and for the first time Roxas notices that she's wearing a band of white fabric on her right wrist. "The truth is, I don't believe that we ever had them as Nobodies. But after I woke up, I found something that I'm certain was never there before."

"So you're wondering if we got them too?" says Roxas, and he can't help but look down at his own arms as if seeing them for the first time, wondering if his own has been somewhere on his skin this whole time.

"Yes," says Naminé, with a small nod. "No one can really agree how soulmates are chosen, or when it all started. The lore behind them tends to vary from culture to culture. But it makes sense to me that they would be connected to our hearts – that someone would only be gifted a soulmate if they had a whole heart to love them with." Her cheeks fill with colour at her last words, and she tucks a lock of hair behind her ear in what Roxas has learned to be a nervous habit of hers. "It's only a theory I have, though... there isn't very much to go on."

The three of them fall into contemplative silence – for Xion and Roxas, as they absorb this new information, and for Naminé, as she seems to be lost in a daydream. Xion looks like she has a thousand questions and isn't sure which one to ask first, though Roxas catches her eyes darting down to Naminé's covered wrist more than once.

Later that evening, Roxas takes the time to inspect himself in the mirror before settling into his sleepwear, and does not have to look for very long. Excitement settles into disappointment when Roxas realizes that the phrase written on his body is a common one that provides very little in the way of hinting at its owner.

He tries not to focus too much on how familiar the voice reading the words out loud in his head is, but it's what he's thinking about when he drifts off to sleep that night, and it's what he thinks about when he awakens the next morning.

*

When Sora finally returns, Roxas catches himself staring, attempting to seek out every patch of bare skin visible, and it's all sunkissed and warm and glowing with life but free of anything resembling words. Thankfully no one else notices his lingering eyes, too preoccupied with Sora themselves (as they should be) to give Roxas a second glance. Except Sora himself, of course, who disentangles himself from Donald and Goofy to run towards Roxas as though about to give him a hug, before he seems to change his mind and instead skids to a stop in front of him.

"Hi," says Sora, and Roxas is still staring, this time at the slightly abashed grin on Sora's face that has no right to make Roxas's stomach flip the way it does.

"Hi," says Roxas, and he physically cannot help how wide his own grin grows. "Took you long enough."

Over the next few weeks, as everyone's lives settle around Sora's presence more easily than they ever had in his absence, the question of Sora's soulmate sits quietly in the back of Roxas's mind, always present but never quite moving close enough to the front to spill out of his mouth. Which is fine, because for the first time Roxas has time to get to know Sora as his own person, and as it turns out – they get along _spectacularly_ well. They never seem to run out of topics to talk about, the hours fly by when they chat, they gravitate towards each other even in large groups, and when they train together it's not only challenging but fun.

 _I should ask,_ thinks Roxas every time he looks at his own mark in the mirror.

Weeks pass, and Roxas never quite gets around to asking, and the subject never comes up on its own. But Sora keeps building himself a bigger and comfier home in Roxas's life, and Roxas – well, Roxas has always thought of Sora _as_ home.

*

When he _does_ eventually see the mark, it's an accident: Sora falls asleep on the beach and rolls over, jacket long discarded from the hot summer sun, and there it is on the back of his neck, blended so seamlessly with the rest of his skin that Roxas almost mistakes it for a sunburn before he decides to lean in and take a better look. His eyes pass over the words once, then twice, and then they're burned into his thoughts for the rest of the day and well into the night.

Roxas knows who Sora's soulmate is, and thinks he might be the only person who does.

He doesn't know when he can bring it up. He doesn't know if Sora even realizes that his mark exists, never mind what it means – it's not exactly located in the easiest place for him to look. 

But Roxas's questions are answered the day the two of them run into a soulmate couple on the street in Twilight Town, who'd evidently just found each other moments ago judging from the way they're crying into each other's arms.

"I'm so happy for them," says Sora, after congratulating them, because of course he had to. "Isn't it amazing, the idea of finding your soulmate just – on the street like that? It could've been years before they ever ran into each other again."

Roxas, suddenly frozen, has no idea what to say except a mumbled, "Yeah."

"Hey, Roxas?" Sora's bright smile has turned into a worried frown, and Roxas's chest squeezes at the sight. "Was that... okay? I didn't know – if soulmate marks carry over to Nobodies, or... if you don't have one, that's okay of course! Some people don't! But I don't know if it bothers you?"

"No, it's fine," Roxas says quickly, desperate to say anything to stop Sora from looking so unhappy. "I do have one."

"You do?!" Sora's eyes light up, the implied _where what who_ written on his face.

Roxas is in trouble now – but he cleverly evades the question by pointing out the gummi parts shop, which works way better than planned as Sora excitedly runs up to the storefront and spends the next half an hour getting way too many cosmetic upgrades.

Sora doesn't bring it up again until they're climbing up Sunset Hill looking for someone's lost dog (a situation that feels strangely familiar). Roxas doesn't know how he and Sora get so easily roped into these things, but he doesn't mind at all, especially because Sora always looks so happy to help, and to be honest, he'll take any excuse to see Sora smile.

"So hey," begins Sora, glancing at Roxas from the side. "You said that you have a soulmate mark?"

Roxas had known that it would come back to this eventually, and he sighs, reaching up to start unzipping his shirt. His soulmate mark is just below his left collarbone. It's composed of elegant script that shines pale gold, almost invisible against his skin in the soft warm glow of the Twilight Town sky.

"Wow," breathes Sora, looking fixated. "I've never seen one that looked like that before. Can I...?"

Is it a mistake to allow Sora to step closer and stare at his chest? Probably. But Roxas left his one brain cell somewhere at the bottom of the hill, so he nods.

Sora moves in close so that he can read the small script.

" _'Who are you?'_ "

It's absolutely surreal to see his soulmate reading the words out loud off his body. Roxas's throat is dry, and his eyes are stinging for some reason. He can't look at Sora, and instead moves to zip up his top, covering the mark back up.

Sora takes the cue to move back, and he sounds soft when he talks again. "Roxas...? You okay?"

Roxas walks over to the wooden fence framing the edge of the hill and rests his arms on it, looking out at the horizon.

"Sora," he says, "do you remember the first time you met me?"

"The Dark City," says Sora, coming to join him. His answer is immediate, but the next parts are hesitant. "When you tested me and we fought."

It's odd, thinking back to those times, when things were so different between them. When he was still hurt and angry, when he still wanted so badly to understand why this boy he'd never met deserved his life back and Roxas deserved nothing at all.

"You really took me by surprise, you know," continues Sora thoughtfully. "You just looked like another Organization lackey and I was like – 'Come on, _really_ , again?!' But then you had your keyblade out and I was so confused. I had no idea who..." He pauses, brow furrowed. "I had no idea who you were."

Sora falls silent after that for a long while. It must be a peaceful sight, the two of them just looking out at the endless sunset together.

Roxas's heart – his physical one – hasn't stopped pounding since he first showed Sora his mark, and now he's beginning to wonder if he should have said anything at all. If it has been decided that someone out there is your soulmate, someone you're meant to spend the rest of your life with, are you then given no other option but to accept that? The two of them have always stood against the tides of fate in favor of cutting their own path. Both of their _lives_ are proof of that.

In truth, in the weeks that the two of them have managed to find peace amongst all the worlds and the time to enjoy it, Roxas has thought that he would be happy just as they are. He'd be happy racing Sora and the rest of their friends down the beach at Destiny Islands; he'd be happy being the first to try Sora and Remy's new recipes at _The Grand Bistro_ ; he'd be happy teaching Sora about skateboarding and Struggling; he'd be happy just existing and breathing and _living_ next to the most incredible person he's ever known when he was so close to not being able to do any of those things.

Deep down, Roxas knows why it has taken so long for him to talk to Sora about this, and it's because he's scared. Terrified, actually, that acknowledging the possibility of one more bond between them could sever all the rest, that Sora has maybe been dreaming about his soulmate's identity his entire life and may actually be _disappointed_ for it to end up being Roxas.

In that moment, Roxas realizes just how easily his brand new heart in his brand new chest could shatter in Sora's hands, and it is not because of anything to do with keyblades or Guardians of Light or even because of their connection as other halves.

"I have one too," says Sora, breaking the silence. Roxas looks over to see that Sora has one hand at the back of his neck, just beneath the collar of his jacket, and his breath catches.

"I know," says Roxas before he can stop himself.

"Oh!" says Sora, not looking upset at all, to Roxas's relief. "It's in kind of a weird place. I wish I could look at it more often."

Sora's soulmate mark looks like Sora's handwriting – loopy and uneven, with tails that curve up. It's written in dark rose, a similar shade to the colour Sora's nose and cheeks tend to take when he's embarrassed.

"I like it," says Roxas, which is a weird thing to say about your friend's mark, so he hastily adds, "Uh, it must be nice that it's so specific."

Sora's laughing. "Whoever thinks I'm _lucky_ should probably hear the story about the pigeon that pooped into my milkshake last week."

Roxas, despite being an absolute nervous wreck at the moment, joins him in laughing – he can't help it, Sora's expression had been hilarious.

"Maybe you're not always lucky," he says after their chuckles settle, and he gives Sora a friendly nudge with his shoulder, "but not everyone gets a super cool Other who'd buy them a new milkshake when a pigeon poops in their first one."

"That's true," says Sora, back to grinning in a snap. "I'm pretty lucky to have you, Roxas."

"You're not so bad yourself, you know," says Roxas, quiet but sincere.

"You know..." Sora's trailing off, looking thoughtful again.

"Yeah?"

"This whole... soulmate thing," Sora begins slowly. "It kinda sounds similar to the relationship we have, doesn't it?"

Roxas chokes on his own saliva in his throat, coughing hard and ducking down. His face is burning when he comes back up, and Sora is (unhelpfully) patting him on the back as he repeatedly clears his throat.

"I didn't mean it like–I mean, I did but I didn't–" Sora mumbles, looking and sounding helpless.

"I'm fine," says Roxas weakly, staring hard at the ground and thinking about how absolutely not fine he is.

"I was trying to say that it sounds like us because we're each other's other half, though you're not _just_ a half anymore, and I don't think I am either! But we used to make one whole together, and now we've grown and we're more like two wholes next to each other but we still have that _connection_ , and..." Sora, ever dramatic, throws his hands up in the air. "This sounded a lot different in my head, believe me. But the _point_ is," he tries again, with a long pause that seems to help collect his thoughts, "for a long time now, I haven't felt like I really needed to meet my soulmate, because I already had you."

Roxas is sure that he's stopped breathing, and that he doesn't remember how to.

Sora looks at him and reaches up to rub his nose bashfully. "But..."

But.

"That was before I knew that you had your own mark. That you might have your own soulmate just waiting out there somewhere for you, hoping to find you one day," says Sora, with a small smile that looks a little more sad than happy. "Roxas, I don't want to hold you back. We fought so hard to set you free, and the last thing I'd ever want to do is take that freedom away."

Roxas opens his mouth, but Sora pushes on before he can interrupt.

"So I just wanted to tell you all of this, and to make sure you know that I'm happy for you and proud of you, and that you'll always be my other half no matter what."

Enough is enough. Roxas gives Sora a long look; at his sad smile, at his gentle gaze and rosy cheeks, and it's decided. He reaches out and grabs Sora's hands.

"Sora," he says, "do you remember the first time I met you?"

Sora looks confused. "You mean the fight – the one we were just talking about?"

"No," says Roxas. "The first time I met you was in the mansion basement."

Sora's eyes widen.

"I was so _angry_ ," Roxas continues, and his grip on Sora's hands tightens with feeling. "I was so angry at – at _everything_. But I knew I didn't have any other choice. I knew what needed to be done. Even if I didn't fully understand, or want to, a part of me just... accepted it. Accepted that you needed me, because the whole universe needed you."

"Roxas–"

Roxas shakes his head to stop Sora from interrupting. He has to get this out now, while he has the courage for it.

"Then I saw you sleeping, and I wasn't really angry anymore. I couldn't be mad at you when you were asleep the whole time and I knew that none of it was your fault. But I was sad because at the time, I thought that was _it_ for me, you know? I thought that my life was over, that I'd just disappear and I might not even get to see you wake up, to meet you and to know if it would all be worth it. So the first thing I said to you when I went up to you was..."

Roxas looks Sora directly in the eyes and smiles.

" _'Sora, you're lucky.'_ "

"It's been you all along," says Sora, in a whisper, and suddenly he's blinking back tears and before Roxas knows it Sora has tugged hard on their hands and brought him into a tight hug.

From here, with Sora's face pressed against his own shoulder, he can see the edges of Sora's mark on his neck – words he once came to associate with an ending, that actually came to mean a beginning – and his heart feels bigger and more whole than it ever has before.

_fin._


End file.
